The present invention relates to an arrangement for feeding banderoles into receptacles of the type described in German Pat. No. 568,834.
In the arrangement of the type disclosed in the aforesaid German patent, a banderole is set and rolled into a loop in a member furnished with an inlet slit, by means of wheels or runners; thereafter it is cut by knives and transferred into the receptacle by means of a suction mandrel. When the knives are not mounted in the walls of the member in which the guide passage for the mandrel is disposed, the suction mandrel is also used for rotation, in order to introduce the banderole into the member, in order to effectuate its looping around the mandrel.
In machines for heat-forming receptacles, such an arrangement may be used for introducing the suction mandrels into the molds prior to heat-forming the receptacles themselves, for example, such as is disclosed in the French Pat. No. 74.42973 published under No. 2.256.014 and No. 77.03132 published under No. 2.340.185.
It is also possible to utilize such an arrangement for introducing suction mandrels into the receptacles after heat-forming, as is the case when fabricating receptacles for small portions of soft cheese and the like.
The improvement in accordance with the invention is described in connection with a machine for heat-forming receptacles having external banderoles, as is described in the afore-mentioned French patents without other applications being excluded for such machines. Such machines are designed to produce from a band of thermoplastic material, at high production cadences, pots or receptacles of different shapes and to provide such pots or receptacles with laterally affixed banderoles or strips. To achieve this, the machine is provided, in addition to the conventional forming stations, filling stations, the station for positioning a lid, closing of the receptacle and the sealing thereof, the cutting of the individual parts and receptacles, with means for introducing the banderole or strip into the mold prior to the proper heat-forming operation.
In order to obtain the high production cadence with a minimum of waste of sheets of thermoplastic material, the molds are grouped closely together, side by side along a line, which is transverse to the direction of payout of the thermoplastic band, each band being associated with a member identically disposed, and the introduction of the banderoles or strips into members including the suction mandrels is carried out simultaneously into all members which are aligned, at one side of these aligned members. The banderoles are thereafter transferred simultaneously into the corresponding aligned molds. If one places two lines of molds side by side, it is possible to introduce the banderoles into each side of the assembly so formed; it is therefore possible to place simultaneously the banderoles into 8 or 12 molds at each advancing step of the thermoplastic sheet, the introducing or feed rollers, the knives and the transfer mandrels all operating synchronously.